Ranger
by MRACR
Summary: This is the story of Range and Vella, and how they joined the flock. But that's not all. Romance, jealousy, breakups and makeups. .oneshot. .really long oneshot. .minor fax. .other romance i promise. .boy these dots are annoying, eh?.


**_Hey there y'all! Another oneshot by ME! But don't worry I'll be updating my other stuff too...if I EVER get comments on it. Jeez. Anyway, so, here's this oneshot, and a warning, it's really long. It started out really short, but I just kept elaborating points along the way until it was 11 pages in Word. I thought about making it a two- or three-shot but couldn't find places to break it up, so here it is, really long. Sorry 'bout that. And also, I apologize for the fact that I simply wrote it, no time for editing. I may come back later and edit, and criticism is always welcome! Constructive, that is. But anyway, on with the story! Enjoy and review!!_**

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Ranger

The cave walls were starting to close in around me. Seriously. Well, maybe not, I guess, but that's what it _felt_ like.

When _would_ he be back? If the idiot didn't turn up soon I was just going to leave and get back to camp.

I couldn't get relaxed enough to sit against the stony wall, so I paced, keeping an eye on the dark entrance, waiting for a silhouette to fly in. Fire was out of the question, no matter how cold I was getting, because it would end up blocking my vision of the entryway.

"Drags my freezing butt up here to this freezing hole in a cliff and leaves without a word," I muttered to myself. "Chooses _tonight_ to be untypical, and in a really _stupid_ way."

I had a really bad habit of talking too much; when I didn't have anyone else to talk to I'd talk to myself, usually not even realizing it.

The "he" I was going on about was Range, the avian-hybrid I was attempting to convince to join the flock. He'd been made in Germany, thought he was the only one of his kind until he saw the three of us girls there. When that Itex base went down he managed to escape.

He wouldn't tell me the name he'd given himself when he was in captivity; when he escaped to wander the skies alone and free he'd renamed himself Range. I thought it suited him.

We met a couple months ago. The rest of the flock was somewhere, I don't really remember, but I'd been off alone to get some food. We were in the middle of nowhere, so I had to find some in-season berries to make up for food shortage.

Ok, so actually, Angel was with me but I ditched her. I felt kinda bad about it but I sometimes just get the urge to be by _myself_ for awhile, flying free. I'm sure Angel could have followed me, but she didn't. Maybe she read my mind and knew that I just wanted a few minutes of free time. I think she went back to camp with the berries we'd gathered.

Anyway, I was, like, just flying along peacefully in circles so I wouldn't get too far away when I saw something down below through a hole in the trees. It looked like one of us had crashed through the canopy, but we were all back at camp. Except for me of course.

I flew down and found Range, though I didn't know it was him yet, with chocolate brown hair and slightly pallid skin though he'd been free for months already. His wings, brown to match his hair, were spread out and he was on his back, unconscious.

At my gasp he jumped up, clearly favoring his left leg.

"What happened to you?" I exclaimed.

"Who are you?" he demanded at the same time. I started giggling.

"Oh, I know you," he glanced at my wings, "one of those three avian hybrid girls who were at Itex."

So we introduced ourselves and he grudgingly admitted that he'd been trying some maneuvers he saw the hawks doing but wasn't coordinated enough and crashed before he could right himself. I spent, like, a half of an hour teaching him some stuff I knew before I remembered I was supposed to be getting food.

I told Range to come back with me and be a part of our flock, he was welcome, he was one of us. He refused, looking almost scared. Even though he'd started to be open and I'd even gotten him to half-grin at me, at the mention of other people he closed right back up.

"Fine, be that way!" I told him as I headed back, angry with him for being uncooperative.

But as I flew away I heard his indistinct yell, a bit desperate, asking me not to tell the others about him. Feeling kind of sorry for him, always so alone when I'd always had my flock, I decided I'd let him come around on his own.

So over the next two months I saw him several more times. He wasn't following us, exactly, but occasionally he'd be in the same place as our flock, always seeing us before we ever saw him. And actually none of the flock ever saw him.

Whenever we crossed paths like that he'd wait until I was by myself and then step out from the trees silently, blending in with the background easier the tanner he got from the sun, soon becoming all brown from hair to eyes to wings to skin. He even wore mostly brown. I think it was for camouflage.

We'd talk, mostly me I admit, and sometimes I'd get him to smile, more often each time I saw him. I think he just wanted a friend, really, being so alone all his life. And he was afraid of anyone but, it seemed, me.

I couldn't stay away from the flock very long at a time, though, so we didn't get to talk for as long or as often as we'd like, always ending up leaving, on the same mission to destroy Itex forever, but always going in different directions.

But tonight, now, tonight was different. Instead of just waiting until the next day when I'd probably be off by myself—the flock had noticed I was doing that more lately but just figured it was part of me growing up and changing and maturing, and since I didn't act much different when I was with them they didn't butt in—he had to come to me in _the middle of the night_.

Iggy was on watch and when I felt the pebble hit my knee. I jumped awake and told him I really had to go to the bathroom, I'd be back in a minute.

As soon as I was out of his hearing, which was like a _mile_, I called out softly for Range and of course he was right behind me. Freak.

He ignored my demands and pleas and complaints that it was cold and made me follow him to where I was now, pacing and freezing in a freaking _cave_, waiting for Range to return.

"Nudge," the soft, clear word broke through my musings. The slightly heavier-than-normal beat of a pair of wings accompanied it.

"Yeah?" I asked, trying to keep my voice from displaying too much emotion. It wasn't that I didn't like Range, I was just cold and tired; not as thrilled at seeing him as I might have been otherwise.

"I need your help here."

Ok, _that_ was unexpected. _What happened? _I thought, taken aback, as I made my way to where he was setting down on the ledge of the cave opening.

In the faint light from the moon, I saw another figure in his arms. A girl, about our age—just thirteen—with dark wings drooping from her back, though I couldn't tell what color. An avian-human like us. Long hair was starting to come out of a disheveled ponytail that I couldn't tell the color of either. Everything just looked grayish blue and darkly highlighted like it always does under moonlight.

"Who is she? Is she ok? Where'd you find her? Do you know her? I don't think I've ever seen her before—" I babbled from cold and shock.

"Nudge," Range's rough voice cut me off. "She collapsed in the air about an hour ago—I was really lucky to find you this quickly. I don't know what happened, but I hoped you could help her."

Even in the dark I could see the fond, worried look he gave her, and the tenderness made my heart lurch. He was giving _her_ that look…that made my gut clench, as well as my teeth.

But I needed to help her even so.

I knelt down and brushed the hair clear of her face, checking the back of her neck surreptitiously in the process for a small black tattoo. Nothing. Thank goodness.

"Range, she has a pulse, but it's kind of slow. And her face is cold. Whatever happened, she's freezing now. I'm going to need blankets from our camp, ok?"

He hesitated.

"Range?"

Still no answer. I turned around to find him glancing from me to the girl and back again, his brow furrowed.

"Range, I need to stay here and check her out." I was really glad that I was basically the flock's medic by now. "But I'm going to need blankets. If you want to help her and possibly save her, you'll go now."

This was the firmest I'd spoken to him and it seemed to jolt him out of his hesitation.

"Iggy's on watch and he's blind, but he'll know your footsteps aren't mine and set up an alert pretty quickly, so you'll need to be fast. Just grab a few blankets and make a run for it before anyone can react."

He nodded, dark hair falling into his face. "Be right back."

The mystery girl that Range seemed to like so _very _much didn't appear to have anything severely wrong with her that I could help. To me it looked like a mix of several things. Her skin was very pallid, like Range's was when he'd first escaped and like ours probably was when we'd first escaped. So she was probably held in captivity until very recently.

That could also help account for the diagnoses I'd given her—over-exhaustion. She probably wasn't used to flying much at all, let alone as far as Range would be able to, and her body had simply shut down, taking her with it. Malnutrition from captivity would also mean she wasn't very strong and was, well, malnourished. Never good.

Range must have caught her in time, though, for she didn't seem to have any physical injuries like if she'd crashed.

I was torn between saying "you poor thing" and "you lucky thing". Of course it was sad that she'd been captive this whole time, and that she'd collapsed like this, but she was free now, probably by Range's doing, and apparently had captured his attention and interest faster than I had been able to. He'd caught her when she fell. He'd rescued her. He'd traveled with her. Gave her tender glances.

_Ugh, why am I even _thinking _about this?_ _I just need to keep her warm until she's slept herself out and make sure she doesn't overexert herself._

I'd just made up my mind to not be jealous of her when Range, out of breath, landed silently on the ledge, hurrying over to us, looking at the girl the entire time. The horrible green monster flared up again, but I refused to give in.

"Did—"

"They're awake and probably looking for me, or at least you, but they won't find us here, I'm pretty sure. Unless that talking dog of yours can sniff us out somehow," Range cut me off, knowing my question before I asked it.

I grabbed the blankets he'd been able to acquire and tucked them in around the girl.

"She's fine," I answered his unasked query. "Malnourished, practically no stamina, overworked. She probably was flying with you after you rescued her, neither of you realizing she couldn't fly as far as you can. Basically, she's just overtired. After she wakes up, and let her sleep herself out, she should be right as rain. Just make sure she takes it slow for awhile."

"Wait a sec. How did you know…?"

"Pallid skin; she was obviously in captivity until recently. And she's with you now, not someone else," I said shortly, almost businesslike. Range noticed.

"What's wrong that you're not telling me?" He actually turned his worried look on me, but I knew he didn't mean it the same way. That I just couldn't stand.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing! Just tend to your girl there and make sure she doesn't overwork herself. I'm going back to my flock and I hope I never see you again!" I burst out before I could stop myself and jumped out into the cold night, freezing on the inside as well as outside now.

I knew he wouldn't follow me. I was going back to the flock and he wouldn't show himself to them. But the foremost reason was because he wouldn't leave that girl he'd rescued.

More than anything at that moment, I wanted to cry. But I couldn't just yet. So I held in my tears and focused on a fake memory I'd made up about going to the bathroom and having trouble finding a good spot. If I focused on something else, Angel wouldn't suspect.

Landing a few yards away, I made my way into camp. Iggy, Gazzy, and Angel were the only three there.

"I heard you coming, had Angel send a signal to Max and Fang. They'll be back in a minute," Iggy said, sounding exhausted.

"Why were they out? What happened?" I asked, seeing the place ransacked. What had Range done?

"Someone ran in suddenly and grabbed several of our blankets, so we'll have to do without until we get back to some other town with a store." I noticed Range had grabbed all of mine, since the others were occupied. _Figures._

"You were missing," Iggy continued, Gazzy and Angel practically falling asleep on each other, "so Max and Fang went out looking for you. Glad you're ok."

"Nudge!" Max exclaimed, running into the clearing and hugging me to her. "What the freaking heck were you doing?"

"Just going to the bathroom, Max, seriously! I told Iggy before I left." I tried to sound completely innocent.

"Come on, Max, it was apparently just some random freak who was cold and just happened to be wandering around in the woods," Fang spoke up dryly from behind her.

"Yeah, happens all the time," Gazzy piped up, Angel completely asleep now, Total in her lap.

I quirked a smile, but my mood was too dark to join in the others' laughter.

"Whoever it was took all my blankets, so I'll need to borrow one," I said, rubbing my arms, still freezing though I was fairly close to the fire that'd been restarted when the commotion woke everyone. "Or, like, I'll freeze to death."

I guess I forgot to act suspicious of what had just happened and sounded a little too oh-this-stuff-happens-every-day. Seriously, it's hard enough masking your emotional pain and keeping your mind completely off of it without putting another act on top of that. It's not really my fault they noticed my duplicity.

"Nudge," Fang said, staring intently at me, "what do you know about this?"

Gazzy and Angel had already crawled under their blankets and Total probably hadn't even woken up.

"Why do you think she does?" Iggy asked, slightly confused.

"Nudge, there's something you're not telling us," Max joined in, stepping back and trying to make me look her in the eye.

"Yeah, there is," I said shortly, grinding my teeth together. "There's definitely something that I'm _not telling you_. And that's the same thing that I'm not _going_ to tell you. Do whatever you want. Make me sleep without a blanket. I don't care. I'm not telling you. I don't even want to think about it, ok?"

They seemed kind of taken aback at this new mood. Frankly, I was too.

"I—" Max's uber-angry retort was cut off by Fang's hand on her shoulder.

"Leave it be. Deal with it in the morning," he said softly. I barely caught it, but was grateful to him. They'd hound me in the morning, alternately angry and sympathizing, telling me they were there for me if I wanted to say what was bothering me. But tonight, I didn't have to worry about it. "Ig, my watch," he said, making his way to a relatively comfortable tree.

Iggy and Max, wisely silent, settled down, Fang throwing his blankets at me and when I thanked him, smiling slightly, he grinned back. He'd been doing that a lot lately and I had a feeling it had to do with him and Max but I so didn't want to go there in my current state of mind. So I just snuggled down into the blankets and closed my eyes.

I could _not_ sleep. I was so tired, and finally warm, but I just couldn't. After about an hour, judging from the number of breaths everyone took, something touched my knee and I jolted up like I had before, only to find that it was not, in fact, a pebble, but Total, making himself comfortable between myself and Angel.

Tears sprang to my eyes, both angry and disappointed at once.

"Nudge?" Fang asked.

"Nothing. It's nothing," I murmured, sniffling slightly, trying to keep my tears under control. If I dashed off crying, they'd_ really_ know something was amiss. But Fang noticed anyway.

Silent most of the time, but always a great big brother when you needed him, Fang stepped across the sleeping bodies, kneeling by me. His fingers caught my chin, making me look at him. Concern for his little sister showed a bit on his generally emotionless face.

"Tell me," he demanded quietly.

I just couldn't stop myself. Tears coursed silently down my face as I babbled out my story to Fang.

"I promised him I wouldn't tell anyone but he doesn't care about me anymore so he probably wouldn't care and it's not like I'll ever see him again because I told him to go away and not come back—"

"Start from the beginning," Fang advised, settling back against the same tree I had.

"Well it was a couple months ago and I found this avian hybrid just like us; he'd been freed when we blew up the Itex in Germany. I showed him some tips on flying and we had a great time but he wouldn't come back to meet the flock—I think he was scared. Then after that I'd see him every couple weeks, he'd just appear, but always seemed kind of wary about meeting the rest of you and always made me promise not to tell.

"And tonight he came and got me because some girl he'd rescued had fallen out of the sky and he thought I could help and it turned out she was just underfed and overtired and that's why she collapsed, so I had him come back to camp for blankets because she was freezing and really needed them.

"But he looked at her so worriedly and tenderly and like I wasn't even there, and I think he loves her and I didn't mean to but when I left I got mad and told him never to come back."

When I was finally done I just sat there, breathing again, and waited for the slightly-wide-eyed older brother to, hopefully, tell me it would be ok, and not get all over-protective on me.

"Months? And you never figured the rest of us should know?" I almost sighed in relief, and would have if I wasn't still choking on sobs, when his voice was wry and not angry or accusatory.

"Well, no…he was my friend, and I just figured that eventually he'd warm up to the idea of being in a flock…"

"Does he have a name?"

"Yeah," I blushed a bit, and couldn't help it. "Range."

"Doesn't sound familiar. The girl?"

"I don't know. He never said." Of course, I never asked, but I didn't say that. It was _Range's _fault, not mine!

The tears had finally stopped and I felt a bit better for finally getting it out in the open, but not that much better.

"Don't tell the others I give this kind of great advice or I'll have them bombarding me with their problems," Fang said with a grin that I shakily returned, "but if he's really your friend, he'll come back anyway. Just give it time. And tomorrow, you have to tell everyone."

"I know," I said, sighing. "And thanks."

"No prob, little sis," he said, half-hugging me. Since these were incredibly rare, I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him back before letting him get back to his watch.

It took me about another twenty minutes, but I actually managed to get to sleep after that. Of course, the dreams were not pleasant, but who would have expected them to be?

A month passed.

I told the flock all about Range and they eventually forgave me, assuring me that if he did come back he'd be welcome into the flock. I wasn't sure I could handle it if he was, but I was glad that they didn't stay mad for long.

I tried not to be too depressed, but it was pretty hard. When someone that you didn't realize you loved, you know, like _that_, disappears from your life, probably loving someone else, just before you realize it…it's kind of difficult to get back on your feet emotionally.

But I didn't let the others know. Fang was the only one that knew that I'd liked Ra—_him_, and he wasn't the most touchy-feely talkative guy, so I had no worries there. The rest of them just thought he was a friend. When I was around the others, Angel and Max especially, I just pretended I was the same old me.

Iggy snuck up on me once, when I was alone and sniffling, but I told him it was just, like, allergies and changed the subject, prattling away.

I still spent time by myself. More, even, just in case…

But it'd been a whole _month_.

"Max?" The worried voice jolted me out of my recollections. I looked up to see Angel talking to Max across the fire of our camp.

"Yeah?" Max looked up from the laptop.

"Um, it's Nudge. She's spaced out again, and sad, and I can't read her mind." Angel sounded worried. She couldn't read my mind when I was sad? That was weird.

"Angel, honey," Max started, but I broke in.

"Kay guys, I think I'm gonna go for a fly, because it's like really nice out and you're supposed to stretch your muscles after you exercise for a long time right? So I should anyway because we were flying so long today." I tried to sound kind of cheerful.

Max looked up at me relieved. "Sure thing. Be back soon."

Soon? I rolled my eyes as I shot skyward. _I'll be back when I'm back._

In fact, I'd be back by morning, I decided, feeling the calming cool of the evening ruffle my feathers, dusk settling, trees flashing below me. I'd go as far as I could before midnight and get back at dawn.

As the hours until midnight started to pass, I wanted to see just how far I could go. I just got caught up in the really pretty night that it was turning into and, who knows, I just wanted to see how far I could go. I'd been getting weird like that lately. Stupid like that. Go so far from my flock? Wouldn't have even thought of it before.

But I did now. Pushing myself as hard as I could, hours passing, wind picking up, cold settling in, muscles seriously starting to ache but still I kept on, hardly noticing. It wasn't that I wanted to leave the flock, I just never thought about going back.

I didn't notice when midnight passed, when the next two hours passed, when I started getting dizzy from lack of sleep and energy exhaustion, when my wings gently stopped beating, when I passed out midair.

All I knew was the wind I'd been pushing against, the calm feel of the night. The next thing I was aware of was voices above me.

_What happened? The flock must have found me. Oh my gosh, I was flying. Did I fall?_

"Do you think she'll be ok?" a soft, sweet voice said worriedly. Angel? No… it wasn't anyone I knew. Had regular humans found me? My wings! But they were so sore where they were folded against my back that I didn't think I'd be able to move them for days.

"Yeah. Should be fine. You found her in time, Vella." Another voice, rough, answered from just above me.

_I know that voice. I swear I know that voice._

"Then I'll go get a fire started, bro." the first voice said in a statement more like a question, as if she wasn't quite sure what to do.

"Yeah, that'd be great."

I still couldn't move, even to open my eyes. It was like I was just stuck, my body asleep, my mind awake.

"Nudge, what happened?" The voice that had stayed behind whispered to my supposedly unconscious body. "Looks like you haven't slept in weeks, and now you've been flying until you collapsed from over-exerting yourself, just what you told Vella not to do. What happened to your flock?"

His voice had such a caring, worried quality to it when he whispered that I wanted to cry, which wasn't a very usual thing, I might add. None of us cried easily.

I decided that I was going to wake up_ now._ He had no right to make me want to cry _again_.

I batted his hand that was caressing my face away and sat up off his lap, jumping instantly into a defensive position. Range slowly stood up, relief evident on his face in the early morning light.

"Nudge?"

"Range. You don't know just how much I'd like to—" punch you and your stupid girlfriend out, was what I was trying to say. Whether I meant it or not didn't matter, because I never got to finish.

We'd hardly even made physical contact before, but now Range had crossed the distance between us in a moment and was crushing me to him, one arm at my back, the other at my neck. And he…he was _kissing _me.

My eyes closed. I couldn't think, only feel his strong form pressed against mine, lips capturing mine over and over, arms not letting me leave him. All other sensations fled and all I could feel, smell, taste, was Range. Slowly my own arms snaked out from between us and around his neck of their own accord. I didn't even feel the soreness from the night before.

In that moment I didn't care that he had another girl traveling with him, that I'd been flying for hours, that my flock was worried. I forgave him of everything I thought he'd done.

I never wanted it to stop, but Range pulled back. It was all I could do to gaze up at him, remembering to breathe. I probably would have fallen over if he wasn't still holding me up.

"Um…" an embarrassed voice came from my right. I turned quickly, breaking out of our embrace as I realized what we'd been doing.

Vella, I presumed. She was pretty, now that I could see her in more than moonlight. About my height and probably about my age, brown hair, brown eyes, still-pale face, but it was filled out much healthier now.

But…_wait a second! _I knew those features. I turned to Range for confirmation just as he quirked a smile and gestured toward the girl.

"Nudge, this is my sister, Vella."

"Um, hi," Vella said, still blushing at the fact she'd walked in on a make-out session.

"Sister?" I said, still incredulous. And then I knew things were back to normal, because I didn't stop there. "But I didn't know you had a sister. Why didn't you tell me she was your sister? Oh my gosh, I didn't mean to ignore you Vella. Hi, I'm Nudge, a friend of your brother's. How old are you? You know, you have almost the same name as Max's sister, Ella. Oh, you probably don't know about Max. She's the leader of my fl—" Range's hand over my mouth stopped my chatter.

He was smiling, and more than just a half smile. He was actually _grinning_. "See, Vella, what'd I tell you? She can speak more words per minute than anyone else on the face of the planet."

"I believe you now," she responded, grinning softly back.

"Um," I ventured, pulling Range's hand away from my mouth but not letting it go. "So, how did you, um, get here?" I asked Vella.

Her brow creased lightly and she looked imploringly at Range.

"To put it simply, she was created at the same time as me, we're twins. But we were to be observed separately. She ended up in Texas, me in Germany. I was at one of the Texas bases when I came across the records, and, well, rescued her as soon as possible. You know the rest."

Yeah, I did. I cringed at the memory of how I'd yelled at him and flown off that night.

"I'm—" I tried to apologize to both of them for not understanding before, but people seem to like cutting me off, even when I'm not talking too much.

"Don't worry about it, Nudge, I didn't tell you everything." Wow. He'd gotten softer. Vella must have that affect on people.

But that kiss had been pure Range. I touched my still-tingling lips with the hand that wasn't holding his.

"Crap!" I suddenly ejaculated. Vella looked at me in surprise.

"What is it?" she asked.

"My flock! I was out all night and they'll be freaked out of their minds that I'm gone." This was not good.

I scrambled to the middle of the clearing and tried to spread my tawny wings, but they unfurled so slowly and painfully that I nearly cried out. It wasn't so bad once they were fully extended, I tried to convince myself. I just needed to stretch them.

"Can we come with you?" Vella asked in the same instant that Range said, "You are _not_ flying."

"Of course!" I answered Range's sister enthusiastically, ignoring Range.

"We were actually looking for you and your flock when we found you," Vella put in, also ignoring her twin.

Range didn't look all that upset, he calmly decided that as soon as Vella and I stopped talking he would simply hold me down and not let me go anywhere. Idiot.

"You were?" Now I spun on the strongly built bird-kid next to me.

"Yeah, uh, now that I've got Vella, I figured we needed somewhere safer to be, and it might be better in a bigger group…" he trailed off, brown eyes gazing into mine so hopefully that I couldn't have said no, had I even wanted to. Which, of course, I didn't. I mean, I'd been trying to get Range to join the flock for eons and if he finally wanted to because of Vella, then of course I'd plead his case in front of the flock! I just hoped they'd accept the twins.

"Then of course you can come! You know you're always welcome. Well, I hope you are anyway, being bird kids that need a flock."

"How far away are they?" Vella asked, and I could see from her face that she wasn't about to let me actually fly with my sore wings, either.

"I don't know, I flew from, like, 8 last night 'til about 2 this morning," I said.

"Fast as possible?" Range asked, purely out of curiosity.

"No! Well, almost…"

"Ok, It's about 7 now—"

"—so we can make it there by evening easy," Vella finished for him.

Wow, finishing each other's sentences. They were twins. Maybe they had a mind link, or other telepathic abilities. Maybe they'd be able to talk to Angel in their minds. That would be kind of freaky. Maybe that's why they didn't ask what I'd been doing flying far away from my flock in the middle of the night. Maybe they knew.

"You've got to let me fly," I told them. "If I don't come, Max will be seriously—"

"Ok, but we're not flying fast," Range agreed, scowling at me. I realized I was staring at his lips and quickly shifted to his eyes, which were also frowning.

"And you're to tell us if you're about to fall out of the sky again," Vella teased, half-serious.

"Sure thing," I said, unable to tear my gaze from Range's eyes. Had that kiss meant that he, well, loved me like I loved him? Or was he just relieved that I wasn't dead?

He must have seen the questions in my eyes. I heard Vella disappear from my right after an almost imperceptible gesture from Range.

A second later I was back in his arms, mine crushed between us. He leaned his head to whisper in my ear, "I will never leave you, or let you leave again. I want to be there to catch you next time you fall." That was as close to "I love you" as it got.

I pulled back and crashed our lips together again. How long we stayed like that I'm not sure.

As we flew back to the flock, Vella in tow, wingtips brushing on each stroke, I knew it was right.

And when the flock settled down from just as much freaking out as I'd dreaded, enthusiastically accepting the two new members of our flock, teasing me and Range when they noticed our clasped hands, not noticing how close Iggy sat to Vella, I knew that it'd all finally worked out for the best.


End file.
